I helped City fight to get a draw at United... then we had a Wembley final 24 hours later!

MARK LILLIS will never forget the weekend when Manchester City came back from 2-0 down to draw the derby at Old Trafford - and lost a Wembley final 24 hours later.

But in 1986, that really happened. Clive Wilson's stooping header and an Arthur Albiston own goal earned City an unlikely point against United, and the following day they went down 5-4 against Chelsea in the inaugural Full Members Cup final.

Lillis thought he had scored a fourminute hat-trick, the fastest in Wembley history, in City's late rally from 5-1 down.

But he only discovered one of his goals had been chalked up as an own goal when he asked referee Alan Saunders for the match ball and found he had given it to David Speedie, who had scored his own treble for the winning side.

When City and Chelsea meet in the FA Cup semi-final today, it is fair to assume the players will be more fresh than their Wembley predecessors from 38 years ago.

Lillis, now 64 and working for City's academy, said: "When I tell people now that we drew the Manchester derby 2-2 at Old Trafford and then I scored twice in a Wembley final the next day, they look at me and wonder if I've lost the plot.